Complete Book of Home Canning - Including Preserving, Pickling, Dehydration and Jelly-Making

1

Home Canning Is Fun

NOW, and doubtless for years to come, every square foot of earth will be made to yield its bounty of fruits and vegetables. Schools will take over plots of ground, suburbanites will grow food instead of flowers, even if they must rent extra land to do it, farmers will plant every acre to fullest advantage with an eye to a bountiful surplus. Whole families will discover that gardening is more fun than they ever imagined, paying rewards in health and tangible assets that other outdoor sports failed to provide. There will be fresh garden produce on the table all summer long, and, in the preserve closet, an ever-increasing array of jars that store the surplus against the day when the last bean is stripped from the vines.

In many neighborhoods there will be canning bees, held in church or community house or school kitchens. Every home-maker will bring along the garden truck she intends to can, together with jars, rubber rings, etc. Every available steam pressure cooker will be pressed into service, so that the job can be done quickly, efficiently and safely. Tongues will wag and laughter will lighten tasks all day long, as neighbor works with neighbor. And when evening comes, the fruits of labor will be carried home triumphantly.

Whenever possible, it is more fun to work with a group, even if only two or three homemakers can get together in the largest, most convenient home kitchen one or two days a week during the canning season. Work goes faster when there is talk and companionship and a feeling of working together. But even if one works alone there is nothing arduous about home canning. The best rule is not to undertake too much in any one day, particularly if you are inexperienced. A few jars, carefully and safely canned every day, are sure to keep unspoiled, whereas many jars hastily prepared by a tired, nerve-wracked homemaker are not apt to prove a good investment. Carelessness, haste, and overwrought nerves are all enemies of the home canner.

THE CANNING BUDGET

At the start of the canning season, a canning budget should be worked out. The homemaker must consider several points in planning this budget—the size of her family, the foods that are available for canning, and the number of weeks when fresh foods are not available. State Agricultural Colleges will help homemakers with this planning, upon request.

Some authorities suggest putting up one hundred quarts for each member of the family. Roughly one-third of each hundred quarts should be fruits, one-third vegetables (particularly green and leafy vegetables) and one-third tomatoes or tomato juice.

Whether it is practical to plan to put up meats, fish or poultry depends upon the source of supply. On farms where slaughtering is done on the premises, it is wise and economical to can the surplus. In localities where fish can be canned soon after the catch is landed, well and good, but if there is any doubt concerning the freshness of fish, it is foolish to attempt to can it.

City dwellers who must pay high prices for garden produce of dubious freshness, and who have no cool, dry, storage closet, would be foolish to insist on canning large quantities of food of any kind. It is to release commercially canned food to them, and to others who have no way of putting up food, that others, who are more fortunate, must can foods at home for their own consumption.

FRESHNESS COUNTS

Ideally, fruits and vegetables should be canned within two hours of gathering, so it is best to pick only as much as may be comfortably canned in a given day. If, for any reason, foods must be held over, they should be kept in a cool, dry place, or, best of all, in the refrigerator.

ENEMIES OF FOOD

All fruits, vegetables and meats contain substances called enzymes, put there by nature to cause natural ripening. In the case of meats, the enzymes have a tenderizing action. However, if the action of these enzymes is not checked by cooking or canning, the ripening process goes beyond the point of desirability and causes decay and rot. So enzymes cease to be friends and become enemies.

Yeasts and molds are microscopic organisms that are present everywhere—in the air, in water, and in the soil. If they are not checked, they cause foods to spoil. Heat will kill them, but unless the food is protected from the air thereafter, it will become recontaminated. In canning, the heat of processing kills yeasts and molds, and sealing keeps air out until the jars or cans are opened for use. If the jar or can is defective, or if the seal is imperfect, yeasts and molds will get in, via the air, and cause the contents to spoil. That is one reason why it is poor economy to use chipped jars or poor quality rubber rings for home canning.

Bacteria of many varieties cause spoilage in foods. Some bacteria are harmless in that they do not cause sickness and death if eaten, others are virulent and dangerous. But all forms cause spoilage and must be killed by means of heat and prevented from entering after canning by means of sealing.

Several factors must be considered as far as temperature is concerned. Actively growing bacteria are destroyed easily at the temperature of boiling water (212° F.). But at the stage in their life cycle when they enter the spore form and become dormant, they become extremely resistant to heat, and temperatures considerably higher than 212° F. are necessary to destroy them. Furthermore, the natural acid content of foods affects the ease with which bacteria can be destroyed. Acid foods like fruits, tomatoes, rhubarb (which, oddly enough, is classed as a vegetable), etc., do not need as high temperatures or as long a processing time as non-acid vegetables and animal products. In these non-acid foods, bacteria can be killed only if a steam pressure canner is used, because no other method builds up a temperature high enough to destroy them.

Now we are very lucky, because science has removed all the guess work from canning. Painstaking experiments and years of research in laboratories have resulted in time and temperature tables that insure success. These tables should not be taken lightly. We would never ignore the recommended time and temperature for baking a cake. How much more important these factors become when food must be protected against spoilage over a long period of time—when the very health of our families is at stake!

TYPES OF SPOILAGE

Several types of spoilage occur in canned foods when bacteria are not destroyed.

Fermentation produces both acid and gas. Food that has fermented in jars or cans turns sour and looks mushy or cheesy. Seals on jars often break when the pressure of gas inside the jar becomes too great, and tin cans bulge at one or both ends. If any of these signs are present—throw away the contents, without tasting, but either burn or bury them so that farm animals or pets cannot get at them.

Flat-sour is a term that expressively describes the type of spoilage where acid, but not gas, is produced by bacteria. Corn, peas, and beans are particularly susceptible to this form of spoilage. Look for a mushy appearance in the food itself, then smell it. If the odor is flat and objectionable, reject the contents, and destroy as suggested above. Never taste the contents to determine spoilage. Better to be on the safe side.

Putrefaction is another kind of spoilage caused by bacteria, and occurs most often in meat, fish, poultry, peas and corn. The food turns soft and its color darkens. The very bad odor gives fair warning when the jar is opened, but often the gas formed in the jar or can will break the seal, or cause bulging, so that smelling will not be necessary. Again—do not taste the food. Destroy it.

Botulinus bacteria are deadly and doubly insidious because they give no warning. They are highly resistant to heat, and the only sure way to destroy them in non-acid foods is with high temperature—so high that it can be reached only in a steam pressure canner. No locality is immune to this form of bacteria, but if directions for time and temperature are followed, they will be destroyed.

WHAT ABOUT PRESERVATIVES

Heat, in sufficient degree, is the best preservative. If the necessary degree of heat is reached and if it is maintained for the proper length of time, there will be no need to add chemical preservatives, such as sodium benzoate, salicylic acid and other canning powders, some of which are more harmful than others in their effect on the human body.

PREPAREDNESS

A bit of forehandedness will pay big dividends when canning time rolls around. A day or so before canning gets underway, do these things:

1. Check equipment, large and small, to be sure you have all the necessary tools at hand and in good order (you will find check lists in Chapter 2).

2. Wash jars and covers. Use hot soapy water for washing, clear hot water for thorough rinsing.

3. Discard imperfect jars and covers. Don’t let misguided motions of thrift lead you into believing that nicks and flaws are too small to matter. Spoiled food is costly.

4. Covers and lids. Be sure that every jar has a cover that its perfectly (Plate 2).

5. If rubber rings are used, provide a new, resilient ring good of quality for every jar.

FOOD VALUE

Are home-canned foods as nutritious as fresh, cooked foods? Do they have as much food value as commercially canned foods? These are the two questions most frequently asked by anxious home canners.

If fruits and vegetables are canned soon after gathering, if the water in which they were precooked is used in filling the jars and cans, and if foods are processed in the containers, home-canned foods will have as high a food value as those which are canned commercially as far as vitamin content is concerned. Minerals are not destroyed by heat, and if the precooking water is used, no mineral value is lost.

Foods canned according to the procedure outlined above, either commercially or at home, are apt to have a higher vitamin content than foods cooked in a saucepan, because air, the great enemy of vitamins, is shut out during the processing period.

Plate 1. The deep sense of contentment that comes with the knowledge of plenty within the house.

Plate 2. Be sure that every jar has a cover that fits perfectly. Use new resilient rubber jar rings of good quality.

2

Equipment for Home Canning

MANY homemakers hesitate to put up foods because they believe that it is a complicated business, difficult to do and requiring elaborate equipment. Actually the reverse is true. Canning differs very little from ordinary cooking, and, with the single exception of the steam pressure cooker, the necessary equipment can be found in any well-stocked home kitchen.

WATER-BATH CANNERS

For canning fruits and acid vegetables a water-bath canner is necessary. Of course there are water-bath canners especially designed for this purpose, but a wash boiler, or any large, deep utensil with a tight-fitting cover is a satisfactory substitute. There must be a rack, wooden or wire, made to fit the utensil, but any man who is clever with tools can construct such a rack, or a carpenter will make one cheaply. The rack should stand about 2 inches high, to keep the jars from touching the bottom of the utensil. It should not be made of a solid piece of material, because this prevents good circulation of water under and around the jars. Instead, strips of wood, or metal, or wires should be used (Plate 3).

The utensil itself should be deep enough so that the water level is at least 2 inches above the tops of the jar, with head room left between the cover and the water level, to prevent boiling over during the processing period.

Some women, with small families, find it easiest to can a few jars at a time, while they are preparing a meal. In this case, a large kettle with a rack and tight cover makes a satisfactory water-bath, but jars must not be crowded into it, or there will not be free circulation of water. Not more than 3 or 4 quart jars can be processed satisfactorily at one time in a utensil of this kind.

STEAMERS

There are certain utensils on the market called steamers which must not be confused with steam pressure cookers. These utensils are ordinarily used for cooking vegetables in steam, rather than water. Water is placed in the lower compartment, to a depth of about 3 inches. Vegetables are placed in cooking dishes which rest on a rack. For canning fruits and acid vegetables a steamer can be used like a water-bath canner, except that the jars are not submerged in water. The lower compartment is filled with water, and the jars are placed on the rack above. Steam circulates around the jars instead of water, but the steam is not held under pressure as it is in a steam pressure cooker.

OVEN CANNING

See Chapter 3—Methods Explained.

STEAM PRESSURE COOKERS OR CANNERS

A steam pressure cooker is really a canning factory in miniature! It is an essential piece of equipment if non-acid foods such as vegetables, meats, fish, etc., are to be canned at home, because it provides the only safe method of canning these foods. It is so designed that the temperature can be raised far above the boiling point of water, which is 212° F., because the steam is confined under pressure. This is the method used